The Science Fiction Hall of Fame
Compilation of science fiction short stories highly recommended on Reddit. Edited by Robert Silverberg, its contents were 'chosen by vote of the membership of the Science Fiction Writers of America'The book's introduction, written by Silverberg. and intended to award fiction from before the inception of their Nebula Award. This volume was to be the first, covering stories below 15,000 words (42.9 standard pages). After many stories were nominated and the votes were counted, Silverberg chose the stories that would be included. The top 15 were automatically included, and were: #[[Nightfall (short story)|Isaac Asimov, Nightfall]] #[[A Martian Odyssey|Stanley G. Weinbaum, A Martian Odyssey]] #[[Flowers for Algernon|Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon]] #[[Microcosmic God|Theodore Sturgeon, Microcosmic God]] and [[First Contact|Murray Leinster, First Contact]] (tied) #(tie) #[[A Rose for Ecclesiastes|Roger Zelazny, A Rose for Ecclesiastes]] #[[The Roads Must Roll|Robert A. Heinlein, The Roads Must Roll]], [[Mimsy Were the Borogoves|Lewis Padgett, Mimsy Were the Borogoves]], [[Coming Attraction|Fritz Leiber, Coming Attraction]], and [[The Cold Equations|Tom Godwin, The Cold Equations]] (tied) #(tie) #(tie) #(tie) #[[The Nine Billion Names of God|Arthur C. Clarke, The Nine Billion Names of God]] #[[Surface Tension|James Blish, Surface Tension]] #[[The Weapon Shop|A. E. van Vogt, The Weapon Shop]] and [[Twilight (short story)|John W. Campbell, Twilight]] (tied) #(tie) #[[Arena|Fredric Brown, Arena]] Although apparently Arthur C. Clarke's The Star came 15th but he'd already got one higher up. The lower ranking stories were not guaranteed inclusion as Silverberg felt the need to exclude some in favour of others that would not have made the cut. Bought it on the 10th of February 2013 using the voucher Darren and Sandra got me for Christmas 2011. Contents *[[A Martian Odyssey|Stanley G. Weinbaum, A Martian Odyssey]] - READ *[[Twilight (short story)|John W. Campbell, Twilight]] - READ *[[Helen O'Loy|Lester del rey, Helen O'Loy]] - READ *[[The Roads Must Roll|Robert A. Heinlein, The Roads Must Roll]] - READ *[[Microcosmic God|Theodore Sturgeon, Microcosmic God]] - READ *[[Nightfall (short story)|Isaac Asimov, Nightfall]] - READ *[[The Weapon Shop|A. E. van Vogt, The Weapon Shop]] - READ *[[Mimsy Were the Borogoves|Lewis Padgett, Mimsy Were the Borogoves]] - READ *[[Huddling Place|Clifford D. Simak, Huddling Place]] - READ *[[Arena|Fredric Brown, Arena]] - READ *[[First Contact|Murray Leinster, First Contact]] - READ *[[That Only a Mother|Judith Merril, That Only a Mother]] - READ *[[Scanners Live in Vain|Cordwainer Smith, Scanners Live in Vain]] - READ *[[Mars is Heaven!|Ray Bradbury, Mars is Heaven!]] - READ *[[The Little Black Bag|C. M. Kornbluth, The Little Black Bag]] - READ *[[Born of Man and Woman|Richard Matheson, Born of Man and Woman]] - READ *[[Coming Attraction|Fritz Leiber, Coming Attraction]] - READ *[[The Quest for Saint Aquin|Anthony Boucher, The Quest for Saint Aquin]] - READ *[[Surface Tension|James Blish, Surface Tension]] - READ *[[The Nine Billion Names of God|Arthur C. Clarke, The Nine Billion Names of God]] - READ *[[It's a Good Life|Jerome Bixby, It's a ''Good Life'']] - READ *[[The Cold Equations|Tom Godwin, The Cold Equations]] - READ *[[Fondly Fahrenheit|Alfred Bester, Fondly Fahrenheit]] - READ *[[The Country of the Kind|Damon Knight, The Country of the Kind]] - READ *[[Flowers for Algernon|Daniel Keyes, Flowers for Algernon]] - READ *[[A Rose for Ecclesiastes|Roger Zelazny, A Rose for Ecclesiastes]] - READ First readthrough (April-July 2013) Format My paperback version mentioned above. Journal I took it to Florida in April 2013 and read the first couple of stories there, but left it then until the beginning of June after reading The Lifecycle of Software Objects. Finished it towards the end of July. I was largely unimpressed, to the point of being seriously disappointed, but there were a couple of good reads. I think in general I may have been thinking of it in the wrong context, the stories are from very early in the modern era of science fiction. However, I do suspect that this collection has lost a lot of its presumed original charm in the 50 years since it was compiled. My favourites were Mimsy Were the Borogoves and Microcosmic God. Rating 0 Reading Record Previous book: [[The Lifecycle of Software Objects|Ted Chiang, The Lifecycle of Software Objects]] Simultaneous books: Hikaru no Go, HPMoR, HPCC Next book: [[The Farseer|Robin Hobb, The Farseer]] =Links and references= Category:Compilations Category:Science fiction compilations Category:1970s compilations